Illustration from a manuscript "Shirin and Farhad"

The miniature painting shown here is from the Sub-Imperial Mughal school from an illustrated manuscript of 325 folios “Khamsa-e-nizami” A.D 1618 whose author is Jamaluddin Abu Muhammad Ilyas bin Yusuf NIzami Ganjwai. The Khamsa (quintet) of the poet is one of the most famous literary works in the Persian language. The scene depicted here is from the legendary story of Shirin and Farhad; here Shirin is seen giving a cup of milk to her lover Farhad.

The library houses manuscripts over 8000 manuscripts in Persian, Arabic and Urdu languages which include over 200 illustrated ones.